About
The Author:Kevin
Cullen is the director of the Owners Group Division and webmaster of Brass
Eagle.org, the Brass Eagle Owners Group. He was co-captain on
the first BEOG team to attend the International Amateur Open in 2003.
Since then, he has served as Director of the Owners Group Division, which
will play its third event in 2006.

IAO Owner's Group DivisionA Different Kind of PaintballStory and photos by Kevin
Cullen August, 2005

“Three,
Two, One...Five Seconds.” The two teams turned away and placed their barrels
on the dead-box. “Go. Go. Go.” That's how games began Thursday morning
at the 2005 International Amateur Open over on Field 4. It all seemed normal.
But there was a twist. This was the Owner's Group Division. The AKA Owners
faced the Tippmann Owners. Over the next eight hours, eleven owners group
teams played a total of 55 games. Later that night, every team attended
a dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse and many ambled over to the bar at
the Sheraton later as the evening progressed.

The Owner's Group Division had a unique
beginning, with all of its teams formed over the Internet. Owners Groups
like Automags.Org, Brass Eagle.org and AKAOwners.org took responsibility
for organizing the teams. Posts were made asking for players on the web
forums and with a little persuasion, owners group five man teams came together.

Players showed up from all over the
country to come to the OGD. In many cases, players on the teams had never
met one another before attending. They had only chatted on
the Internet. The OGD rules required certain distances between players
and prohibited players from playing with regular teammates. Nonetheless,
all participants agreed on one thing: their goal was to have fun. Rob Kenny
of AFTICA remarked, “The OGD really made my IAO experience above and beyond
any other tournament I have ever attended.”

After the first day, when all the preliminary
games were played, Shocker Owners found themselves in first place. Close
behind were the AKA Owners. The top eight were rounded out with Palmer
Owners Brass, Team Automags.org, AIR Powered, Tippmann Owners, Rainmaker
Owners and Matrix Owners. These eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals
the next day. Rainmaker Owners and Team AO proved strongest on Friday and
made the push into the best-of-three finals. After a stalemated first game
where Team AO was able to garner the flag pull, but no hang, Rainmaker
stormed out the next two games with a mission. When the dust settled,
the Rainmaker Owners were victorious and won the 2005 Owners Group Division
championship.

What
separates the OGD from many tournaments is its emphasis on sportsmanship.
Of the total $8,500 prize package over $5,000 went to the sportsmanship
awards. Brass Eagle.org was unanimously selected by the referees as the
winners of the AKALMP Sportsmanship award. Their players all received AKALMP
Viking markers. A new award at the OGD, and an OGD exclusive, is the AKALMP
Sportsman of the OGD. Stephani Steele of Palmer Owners Brass was the first
recipient of the prestigious award. She received a fully loaded AKA Excalibur
for her efforts. Both Brass Eagle.org and Steele will have their names
engraved on the Owners Group Cup along with champion Rainmaker Owners.

The Owners Group Division is a unique
event. No other event provides the same kind of excitement, entertainment
and camaraderie that the OGD provides. In the words of Rainmaker Owners
captain, Scott Quarles, “To say that OGD is the gem of the IAO is an understatement.
It carried the IAO.”